Electric coupler



Sept. 8, 1925. 1,552,521

- H. E. VAN BORN ET AL V ELECTRIC COUPLER Filed Kay 23, 1921 2 Shets-Sheet 1 Patented Sept. 8, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

\ HERBERT E. VAN DORN AND JOHN MOWILLIAKS STONE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

ELEC'IBIO COUPLER.

Application filed Hay 1921. Serial No. $71,980.

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that We, HERBERT E. Van Donn and JOHN MCWILLIAMS STONE, cit zens of the United States, residing at Chlcago, county of Cook, State of Illinois, have invented ment in Electric Couplers, and declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, such as Wlll enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanyin drawings, which form a part of this s ecihcation.

Our invention has or its object to produce a simple and novel electric and air coupler which may be attached to a car coupler and enter into and out of coupled relation with a cooperating member igmultaneously w1th the coupling and uncoup ng of the car couplers. The various features of novelty whereby our invention is characterized will hereinafter be pointed out with particularity in the claims; but, for a full understanding of our invention and of its object and advantages, reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in-connection with the accompanying drawings, wheremi I Figure 1 is a top plan view of our 1mproved coupler;

Fig. 2 is a side view, showing the door open in full lines and closed in dotted lines;

Fig. 3 is a detail of one of the door hin es;

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the coup er; and

Fig. 5 is a section on an enlarged scale taken approximately on line 55 ofFig. 4.

Referring to the drawings, 1 represents awide, flat, shallow casing open at the front end and open at the bottom except adjacent to the front end where it is provided with a cross-piece, 2. The openin in the bottom may be detachably closed means of a plate, 3. Two air pipes, 4 an 5, overlie the top of the casing and are attached at'their front ends to the leasing at the longitudinal center thereof; the casing being provided with a thick vertical partition or wall, 6,

at the middle, this wall having therein air passa es, 7 and 8, surrounded at their front ends y suitable gaskets or yieldable washers, 9 and connected at their rear ends to the pipes 4 and 5 respectively. When two coup era are brou ht together in coupled relation to each 0t er the air lines on two cars are connected through the passages 7 and 8. The rear ends of the pipes 4 and 5 a certain new and useful Impr0vepass through suitable perforated ears, 10, rising from the top of the casing. Within the front end of the casing is a body of insulating material in which are, slidably mounted yieldingly-held contact members, there being a group of contact members in each of the two compartments into which the casing is divided by the central partition, 6. The two bodies of insulating material may be constructed in any suitable way. In the arrangement shown, each is made up of a series of individual blocks, 11, lying side by side and fastened together by means of a bolt, 12, passing through the same; a second bolt, 13, being adapted to pass through the insulating material and also through the casing to secure the insulating material in the casing. The insulatlng blocks are molded or otherwise fashioned so that each block forms with the adjacent block a series of seats for contact members. In the arrangement shown, each seat comprises a rectangular passage or bore, 14, extending inwardly from the front of the insulatin material and partway through the bloc together with a cylin-- drical bore or passage, 15, extending from the rear end of the bore or passage, 14, out

through the rear end of the block. Each' contact piece comprises a cylindrical stem, 16, having at the front end thereof a rectangular head. 17. Behind each head, within the part 14 of the seat, is a spring, 18, WhlCh vieldingly holds the contact in its forward position. On the rear end of each of the stems of the contact pieces is a nut, 19, and a lock nut, 20, the latter bein made elongated in the axial direction and aving an openin 21, into which the end of a wire may inserted; a set screw, 22, servmg to clam the wire in place.

The. num er of contacts in each group, that is, in each half of the casing, is the same and the disposition of the contacts in th two groups is similar; the contacts being symmetrically disposed relatively to the parts are so roportioned that the contactsnormall ten to project beyond the plane of the out. edge of the rim so that when two couplers come into coupled relation to each other the contacting contact pieces press each other back and, just before the coupling is completed, the two rubber rims come into engagement with each other and form a tightly sealed joint between the two couplers, thus preventing theentranc of moisture or dirt. I

When the coupler is idle it is desirable that the contacts be covered so as not to leave the same exposed. We-have therefore provided a door which may readily be opened and closed and be securely held in either its open or closed position when brought into that position. The door may conveniently consist of a rectangular frame, 25, slightly larger than the rubber rim, 2. sheet metal plate, 26, being secured to and extending across the frame. The door is provided at one long edge with hinge ears, 27, and on,

to cover all forms and arrangements which the front of the casing are downwardlyprojecting co-operating hinge ears, 28. Pin tles, 29, pass through cooperating hinge ears. On each side of the casing is a spring, a 30, the rear end of which is attached to a point at the rear end of the casing while the front end is attached to the end of the door at some distance from the hinge axis. The parts are so proportioned that when the door isswung upwardly into its closed position the springs act in a direction to hold the movements of the doors will not be conit closed, as illustrated in dotted lines in Fig. 2; while, when the door is swung open so as to lie underneath. the casing, the springs act to hold it open. The openings, 31, in the hinge ears 27 are preferably larger in diameter than the pintle's so as to permit the door to shift bodily to some extent. This is desirable so that in case two couplers come together while their doors are closed,

. fined to true angular movements-around their hinge axes, but may be bodily move- 1 ments longitudinally of the coupler; thusdistributing the pressure uniformly in the contact pieces behind the same; it being understood that the door, when closed, rests againstthe front ends of the contact pieces as shown in Fig. 5. In orderto avoid damage to the door or to the contact pieces when the door strikes against the latter, we prefer .to place on the inner side of the door a cushoutwardly from the same for the purpose of securin the electrical coupler to the under side 0 a car coupler.

While we have illustrated and described with particularity 'only a single preferred form of our invention, we do not desire to be; limited to the exact structural details thus illustrated and described; but intend come within the terms employedin the defi- 'nitions ofour invention constituting the ap capacity for longitudinal movements in the inward direction, a door hinged at one edge underneath the casing and adapted to swing from a position in frontv of and ad acent to the contacts to'a position underneath the casing, and. a spring acting on thedoor to hold it in either its open or its closed posi-' tion, the hinge connection between the door and the casing including a pin arranged in an openingconsiderably larger than the pm to permit the door to move bodily toward and from thefront end of the casing when the door is in its closed position,

: In testimony whereof, we sign this specification. HERBERTE. VAN DORN. JOHN MGWILLIAMS STONE, 

